Elisabethenkirche (Basel)

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Elisabethenkirche
Image of the object
Elisabethenkirche in Basel
Basic data
Place: Basel
Canton: Basel city
Country: Switzerland
Altitude : 270  m
Coordinates: 47 ° 33 '9.8 "  N , 7 ° 35' 28.4"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred eleven thousand four hundred eighty-seven  /  266,901
Use: church
Accessibility: Observation tower open to the public
Tower data
Construction time : 1865
Total height : 70.50  m
Viewing platform: 52.50  m
Position map
Elisabethenkirche (Canton Basel-Stadt)
Elisabethenkirche
Elisabethenkirche
Localization of the canton of Basel-Stadt in Switzerland

The Elisabethenkirche in Basel is located in the center of the city right next to the Theater Basel . It is considered the most important neo-Gothic church in Switzerland and is a testament to historicism in terms of architecture and furnishings .

Building history

The church, founded by Christoph Merian and Margarethe Merian-Burckhardt, was built from 1857 to 1864 according to plans by Ferdinand Stadler . He prevailed against Joseph Caspar Jeuch in the second round of an architecture competition . After the first round, Jeuch managed to exert a certain influence on the construction. The founder should never see his church finished because he died in 1858 shortly before the foundation stone was laid. Christoph Merian financed the construction of the church with the intention of erecting a “memorial against the demon of the times”, that is, against the de-Christianization of state and society. It was the first new church in Basel since the Reformation .

inside view
Stone pulpit with "camouflaged" wooden canopy

Under the construction management of Christoph Riggenbach , a minster construction hut based on the Cologne model was set up, in which craftsmen and architects put their work in the service of a large joint effort. This in accordance with the religious ideals of the founder Merian (→ Frommes Basel ). The Bauhütte served many aspiring Swiss architects as a practical training facility.

The opening service took place on June 6, 1864. At that time, however, the choir windows, which were installed a year later, were still missing. In the interior there is a historic organ , which was built by the organ builder Joseph Merklin in 1862 and expanded in 1949. In 1866 the church was handed over to the church and school commission by Merian's widow. The couple is buried in the crypt under the church in two marble sarcophagi, where there are also two monument busts of the two, created by Heinrich Rudolf Meili from Binningen and Ferdinand Schlöth .

When climbing the tower, various riveted or screwed steel girders become visible, as they were also used for the Eiffel Tower . Such technology was of course not available in the classical Gothic period . It was only thanks to these innovations that it was possible to complete the church in a construction period of only seven years with a limited budget.

architecture

The interior of the church is characterized by the building type of a three-aisled vaulted hall church . This is limited to the west by the five-sided choir polygon and to the east by the vestibule under the tower. The galleries are directly accessed via entrances in the side facades, as is the former private box of the donor couple opposite the stone pulpit . The publicly accessible tower towers over the towers of Basel Minster with its 72 meters.

The brick ribbed vault , which can be seen in the aisles, is special at the Elisabethenkirche . In the 19th century, bricks were rare and expensive in Switzerland ; the Elisabethenkirche is the only building in Stadler's factory where sufficient financial means were available for such a construction. Elsewhere you had to fall back on wooden structures that were painted like stones. The Elisabethenkirche cannot do without such cost-saving measures either: the canopy of the stone pulpit is actually made of wood. Such constructions were mockingly called carpenter's Gothic. Compared with other buildings built around the same time - e.g. B. the Votive Church Vienna - the Elisabethenkirche is rather sparsely decorated and kept locked. The extent and dimensions of the typically Gothic eyelashes and pegs were kept to a minimum.

Renovation and new use

Door lock with the year 1863
Stairway in the tower.
Spire.

In the 1980s the church was supposed to be torn down, but this was prevented by interested citizens. The new building of the theater in 1975 had massively impaired the solitary character of the church. In the meantime, however, there has been a rethink and historicist buildings are valued again. This made it possible to extensively renovate the church between 1990 and 1994. This was done in a gentle way: many details from the construction period are still preserved today. The year 1863 is emblazoned on the ornate door lock of the side portal (a bar is now in the room behind it ). Since the renovation, the Elisabethenkirche has been run by an ecumenical association as an "open church". The association “Open Church Elisabethen” is supported and co-financed by the Evangelical Reformed Church in Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt, the Roman Catholic Church in Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt and the Christian Catholic Church . In addition to church services, the church is also used commercially for concerts and weddings.

organ

The organ was built in 1861–1864 by the organ builder Joseph Merklin (Paris / Brussels). The instrument initially had 29 registers on two manuals and a pedal and had a bellows treading system that was operated by calcants. It was not until 1899 that the instrument was equipped with an electric wind turbine , expanded by four registers and switched to pneumatic cone chests. In the course of time the organ has been rebuilt several times and adapted to the zeitgeist. In 1913 a third manual with 11 registers was added. In 1934 a new fan was added and the pedal system was finally shut down. Today the instrument has 42 registers on three manuals and a pedal. The actions are pneumatic.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Principal 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Bourdon 8th'
Salicional 8th'
Octave 4 ′
flute 4 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Octave 2 ′
Mixture IV-VI 2 ′
Cornet 8th'
prong 8th'
II Swell C – g 3
Principal 8th'
Covered 8th'
Gemshorn 8th'
Octave 4 ′
recorder 4 ′
Fifth flute 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Principal 2 ′
Night horn 2 ′
third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
mixture 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Trumpet 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
Tremulant
III Swell C – g 3
Covered 8th'
Night horn 8th'
Echo flute 4 ′
Principal 4 ′
Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Principal 2 ′
Cymbel 1'
oboe 8th'
Covered 16 ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Contrabass 16 ′
Sub bass 16 ′
Echo bass 16 ′
Covered 8th'
Flute bass 8th'
Choral bass 4 ′
Bombard 16 ′
bassoon 8th'
Singing Cornett 4 ′
flute 2 ′
Tremulant

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dorothee Huber: Architekturführer Basel, The building history of the city and its surroundings . Architekturmuseum Basel, Basel 1993, p. 226
  2. ↑ Othmar Birkner, Hanspeter Rebsamen: Basel . In: Society for Swiss Art History (Ed.): INSA 1850–1920, Volume 2 . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-280-01716-5 , p. 145. doi : 10.5169 / seals-3532
  3. ↑ INSA 1850–1920, Volume 2 . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-280-01716-5 , p. 146; Stefan Hess / Tomas Lochman (eds.), Classical beauty and patriotic heroism. The Basel sculptor Ferdinand Schlöth (1818–1891) , Basel 2004, p. 170.
  4. ^ Andreas Hauser: Ferdinand Stadler . Krauthammer, Zurich 1976
  5. ↑ http://www.offenekirche.ch/elisabethenkirche_geschichte.htm
  6. ↑ inforel.ch: Open Church Elisabethen. Retrieved December 4, 2017 .
  7. ↑ More information about the organ

literature

Web links

Commons : Elisabethenkirche (Basel)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
and display information about the image
360 ° panorama from the Elisabethenkirche